TO SAY THAT CHRISTMAS is my favourite time of year sounds like the old cliché that it is. But this does not stop the statement from being truthful. It happens to be the month of my birth but this is insignificant in the context of the big picture.
It is the weather, the warmth and the wonder of life itself. This time more than any other causes one to reflect and appreciate the importance of balance.
This time of year may be more special to pre-Independence babies when one reflects on the struggle and deprivation during the treasured decades predating the birth of the nation. The eventual birth came around the time of the Almighty’s birth and created a physical and spiritual hive of activity. While the spiritual hive seems to be in decline worldwide, the warmth of Christmas carols is enough to make the coldest winter tolerable and the heat of the tropics bearable.
The magic of Christmas is therefore wrapped in its power to transcend national borders, village boundaries and household perimeters. It really never mattered that many carols made reference to winter and snow; it never mattered that there was a distinct rural and urban difference; it never mattered that some had more than others. It always mattered that the village people got to see ham, to smell the varnish and to get a new pants/dress and shirt/blouse.
While I had the most wonderful of mothers all year round, from very young this time of year was my favourite because I got an opportunity to draw up under my mother even more. I was able to bake my own little pudding in the “mello-kreem can”; I volunteered to wash the pan in which the special one mixed the cake and I would get a chance to be up until lights were out. These were privileges that made Christmas special!
Even the smell of the wooden house was special with the new congoleum, fresh paint and the ham hanging from the roof. To this day, it is possible to inhale the various scents just by reflecting. It is difficult to impress upon young people that the taste of ham was reserved for Christmas, not out of choice but circumstance.
Perhaps with time I have come to recognise that the timing of Christmas at yearend was fortuitous. There was a sense of joy that one associates with a finale. It allowed for a special high to be reached; in musical terms a coda. It signalled the end and ushered in the new. From the point of view of the poor and deprived, it offered that one time of year when true appreciation for life and the essence of life came to the fore. In short, it offered the hope of what could be.
Perhaps on reflection, the greatest lesson of Christmas that I learnt is that the beauty in giving is to feel a sense of sacrifice that is giving accompanied by self-deprivation. In essence, it is not the absolute size of the gift that matters most, but rather the relative sacrifice that the giver makes in doing so.
In a real sense, it was possible to be very happy with so little. So what has changed? The value system.
In a society that has made tremendous physical strides, it still seems to have lost its way. This time of year offers an opportunity to re-evaluate many things about the direction in which this society is heading and has been heading for some time. It is truly time to put our house in order by first revisiting the values that allowed us to work hard, to share the little and to measure progress less materially and more spiritually.
There are obvious forces that intend to help shape the society to accommodate their desires; who intend to promote individualism to the detriment of the family; who see freedom of expression as the embrace of all choice, and who use perceived public opinion as the basis for maintaining the status quo.
Given the timing, one of the beauties of Christmas is that it provides a time for stocktaking. It gives an opportunity for reflection and evaluation. In the prevailing circumstances, this period of Yuletide imposes an even greater will; the will to seek truth.
It is difficult to think of a period in our recent history when we were as challenged to assess the present in the hope of changing the future. In the midst of it all, Merry Christmas to you!
Dr Clyde Mascoll is an economist and Opposition Barbados Labour Party adviser on the economy. Email:clyde_mascoll@hotmail.com